Samarasinghe who was also a close adviser of the President, that I was going to take the risk of authorizing advances on a studied basis. If the thousands of wholesale and retail points could not be stocked on a continuous basis, there would not be food available. It was obvious that some security advisors who were totally ignorant of the implications of such a decision had literally brain-washed the President. It was clear that the Minister had to be briefed about the consequences of this decision and persuaded to go and meet the President. There was a caste system operating amongst the Sinhalese, which had become much watered down over the years.